Muskegon County 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks sentenced Johnson Monday, June 2, to two concurrent sentences of 17 to 35 years in state prison for two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct, for raping two young relatives. Johnson also got a concurrent term of five to 15 years for one count of second-degree criminal sexual conduct for sexually touching a third girl. He received credit for 355 days already served in the Muskegon County Jail.

According to trial testimony, all the victims were sexually abused over a period of years when they were children.

A Muskegon County jury convicted Johnson of those counts May 2 after deliberating less than an hour.

One girl was younger than 13 when Johnson penetrated her, she testified at Johnson's trial. The other two were between 13 and 15 when the crimes charged against Johnson happened, they testified -- although the girl victimized in one of the first-degree penetration counts testified she was only 10 when Johnson began touching her sexually.

The sexual assaults alleged in the charges against Johnson happened over a number of years until 2012, when the police investigation began after one of the girls came forward.

But Johnson's raping of other young female family members started decades before that, according to corroborating testimony by about a half-dozen other women who said they'd been his victims over the years. One woman, now 70, testified Johnson sexually assaulted her as long ago as 1957.

According to testimony at the four-day trial, the rapes sometimes happened in the basement of Johnson's home, sometimes in his office at Faith Congregational Church of God in Christ, 509 Jackson Ave., where Johnson used the title of bishop.

After months of investigation by the Muskegon police, Johnson was arrested and charged in June 2013.

John S. Hausman covers courts, prisons, the environment and local government for MLive/Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at jhausman@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter.